Like most guys in my profession, I love aerospace. I wanted to be an aerospace engineer since I was 7 years old. When I was 10 years old, I had a paper mache model of Mariner 4 hanging from my bedroom ceiling. I've got an old Saturn-V model in my office that I made in 1968. If they didn't pay me to do this, I'd do it for free as a hobby. "Old NASA" colleagues of mine try to retire but they can't stay away. They're gone for maybe 2 years max and then they're back working as consultants for ten cents on the dollar. There's probably nothing sadder than an aerospace engineer who has left the trade (been fired, laid off or retired), wants to get back in but can't. This is the ultimate tragedy about aerospace. There are all these really bright people who would happily dedicate their professional lives working for peanuts to achieve some great goal like getting people to Mars but aren't allowed to because the "system" is too stupid and corrupt.

Gary